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Friday, January 27, 2012

A Day In The Life

Okay, so I don't know if this'll be inspirational or make you want to cry. I live this life, and sometimes I want to cry. But I enjoy seeing how other people spend their day, and here's how mine go down.

*Note: I only work Tues - Fri, so this is for the typical Tues - Fri. Monday is a whole different beast, because I spend all morning (usually until about 11:30) cleaning my house. Then I have a few hours before anyone comes home to mess it up where I work (I try to get two solid hours in on Monday before the kids come home). Then my afternoons mirror the schedule below. Weekends are a free-for-all. I work a lot on the weekends, actually.

So Tuesday - Friday:7:00 AM: Wake up and drag myself out of bed.

Make lunches.

Read scriptures with the kids.

7:20: Get clothes for daughter. Nag her to get dressed, put her shoes on, and/or complete her reading/homework.

Personal study.

7:40: Son leaves for school.7:45: Shower and get ready.

8:05: (Yes, that's only 20 minutes.) Find out daughter has done none of the above I nagged her about. Nag some more while rushing around to find shoes and socks and pack backpacks. I also do the dishes here. I absolutely cannot leave for work with dirty dishes in the sink. OCD? Your call.

Do daughter's hair. Tie her shoes. Etc.

8:30: Daughter leaves for bus.

Start car. (It's freaking cold in Utah in January, okay?)

Eat breakfast.

Enjoy 10 minutes to myself with no TV, no one asking me questions, etc. Sometimes I email myself documents during this time to look at during lunch. Sometimes I open something and work for 10 minutes. Sometimes I tweet and/or Facebook.

8:40: Leave for work.

Sing really loud in the car to my favorite songs. The power of this should not be underestimated. Maroon 5 CAN change your life!

8:55: Arrive at work

Work. Sometimes I email at work. Or during lunch. Or blog. Or whatever. My schedule is sometimes loose, and sometimes not. The life of teaching = flexibility.

2:15 PM: Leave work.2:35 PM: Arrive home. Change shoes. Go walking. (This is if I have no errands. Ha! I usually have errands. But I walk when I get home.)2:55 PM: Check dinner menu. Open computer. Email/tweet/etc.3:10: Son arrives home.

Errands and taxiing begin.

Make dinner.

4:00: Daughter arrives home from school.

5:00: Eat dinner.

More errands.

More taxi driving.

More dropping off or picking up or whatever.

Somewhere in here, I make my daughter shower. Also, sometimes in here, I go to the library to work in between drop offs and pick ups. Sometimes I have so many that I can't do that and/or I only have time to drive between places.

Whoever said life gets easier when your kids get older was LYING.

8:30: With everyone finally home, it's time for bed. Daughter goes.

9:00: Son at least goes upstairs, whether he goes to bed or not is his call. Whatever. He's upstairs and I'm not. This ensures that I don't become homicidal.

9:01: Begin working. Writing, editing, revising, critiquing, whatever it is I have to do.

Watch The Office. Or Chopped. Or whatever we've recorded that night. (While working, usually.)

11:00: Go to bed.

Rinse and repeat the next day. So, see? I sleep for 8 hours every night. I also cook dinner and walk (most days). I squeeze in time to write and edit and whatever where I can.

39 comments:

I agree that they lie when they say it gets easier as the kids grow older.

I'd love your schedule. I hope I only have to work 4 days at my next job and your hours. Would love it!

I get up by 6:00 am at the latest. Am being productive until I go to work at 8:50 and then there till 5:00 with a lunch hour. Usually busy. Then working at home or writing until 9:00 ish when I try to give myself 2 hours to read or watch TV before I collapse.

You're mornings almost sound like mine, especially with your daughter, but we have to be out of the house by 8:05 am. I get them up at 7:30.

I don't drive the kids to the bus stop because it's just down the street. Okay, last week I would have driven them to the stop when it hit -30 F, but my van refused to start (I know the feeling). Fortunately when the bus didn't show (grrrr), a friend drove them to school for me.

I spend the first part of my morning on social media, usually an hour or two. Then if my daughter has school, I write or edit while she's gone for 2 1/2 hours. We eat lunch together and play for an hour. Then it's her nap time, so I get another 2 hours of writing in. 3pm I play with my daughter, get my husband's lunch together for the next day, and start dinner so it's ready around 5-5:30. Play time until my daughter's bath. Then reading to her. She goes to bed at 8pm, so I get to either spend time with my husband or write some more. In bed usually by 11pm.

Gotta love that nagging fun us moms get to have:) Not really!At least your daughter doesn't have to leave until 8:30. Mine has to be on the bus at 7:30 so the nagging begins at the butt crack of dawn:(

I don't have kids. Just a hub, 2 dogs and a cat. I get up at 6:30 get ready for work. Get to work by 730-8am depending on how much energy hub has. Dogs have their own room where they stay until we get home. I do only work Mon-Thur.

I get home at 4-430ish depending (yes I drive to work and work with hub) - if I have physio at 4pm (tue/thur) I don't get home until 5pm. I then sit down for 2-3 hours to write/edit/read/plot. At somewhere between 7-8pm I sit down to spend time with hub until bed at 11pm.

If I couldn't leave dirty dishes in my sink, I'd be done for! (Or the lunch mess....We make lunches every morning to take to school/work, but somehow when we come home, that tiny little mess looks like the kitchen exploded in our absence.)

But you are right...it's a good life, and you have to fit the writing in where and when you can.

I too love reading day-in-the-life blogs, and yours is inspirational. Between the day job and the kids, I don't know how you still have the energy at 9 pm! I only have one of those things (the day job), and I still struggle to make it to the computer some evenings. Thanks for sharing!

Hmm...very busy schedule. It is inspirational that you're sharing because some people could really use the reminder that the day in the life of a published author is not all zen moments of writing and sipping lattes all day.

My day starts by 6:20 am with a morning prayer, going through the motions of getting Chipmunk up, fed, refreshed and dropped off to school then get home to get myself ready, fed and to work by 9; stealing a few moments to do some blog hopping. Then not home til 6:20, grabbing Chipmunk from friend's house, preparing something to eat then trying to do 30 minutes of exercise. B-Ball practice nights are lots harder. Make sure homework's done, Chipmunk's showered, done some reading, goodnight prayer then I can get on the lap top to do some writing/editing/blog prep/blog hop until I get too tired. That could be 11 or it could be 12:30.

thanks for posting this- I have major trouble balancing family/writing/house/other activities. I think it also changes as the family changes. Right now, all of my children are 5 and under, so nobody is really indepenent yet and with another baby on the way, well...it won't be years!

My kids and I are up at 6am because I have to be to work by 7am...luckily I work at their school so there is no drop off time needed. I work from 7-3 or 4 depending on the day. Then of course errands, sports, homework, showers, dinner, dishes, (mine have to be done before I go to bed then I shove the breakfast dishes in before starting the dishwasher) my own personal showering, writing, reading, etc and I'm in bed by 9:30 or 10:00pm.

Life would be so incredibly boring if I had a ton of free time. I feel like the more I have to do the more productive I am in my down time.

I hate that I roll out of bed at 5:05 AM to fight traffic on the way to work (I shower the night before, because I NEED that extra 15 minutes of sleep), but ... I'd rather have my half, than to be mom and have to stay home and nag the kids to get ready for school.

I love seeing how other people fit it all in. I have had to do some readjustments lately to make time for the most important things. I think I have a pretty good schedule now.

4:30 a.m. Baby wakes up hungry. I usually feed her and rock her back to sleep, holding her until I have to tear myself away. I read scriptures on my iPhone during this time. 5:30 I do an exercise DVD6:00 Shower and get ready for the day6:45 or 7 Wake baby up, feed her and get her and her stuff ready.7:15 or 7:30 Drive baby to daycare and then go to workWork until 5. Sometimes I read on my lunch break. Pick baby up and usually get home by 5:30. 5:30 to 7:30 I play with baby and the husband and then put baby to bed. 7:30 to 8 is when I clean. I can't deal with a messy house and doing a little every day saves me from having to do it all on the weekend.From 8 to 9 I write and then try to go to bed by 9:30. I don't watch t.v. and I don't eat. :) Actually the not eating thing has really helped me lose the baby weight!

Feeding the family and encouraging them to leave for school and work so I can get ready to do the same. Feeding the animals (dogs and rabbits). Teach spec ed 7 hours a day. Home to help with homework and make dinner. Meetings for my church responsibilities. Exercise. Pass out.

Haha Except for all the taxiing, that about does it. Except I have to be at work at 8 and I don't get off until 5:30--and two nights a month I have to work in the evening (as well as the day), and it could last only until 7 or end at midnight.

My days are pretty crazy too. I try to go to the gym first thing (whether or not that happens depends on how late I went to bed the night before), then I shower and get ready, get some facebook and blog reading in, and rush off to my first class. Between classes I do homework and try to squeeze writing/editing in. Usually I work for three or four hours in the early afternoon. Then I have more classes, more homework, rehearsals for groups I'm in, dinner group with some friends, and more writing/homework/catching up with TV shows until about 11:00. Then I write in my journal and do my scripture study before collapsing in bed.

It's hard being a college student when you have so many different things you want/have to do :)

Wow, you get a lot done in a day. I'm not nearly so organized. My kids leave for school and work before I get up (6:45) my husband is up early with them and they're all teens so they can get dressed and eat on their own which is nice, though they don't always eat breakfast.

When I wake up I read scriptsThen I exercise and watch a video or listen to an audio book or music at the same time? (I'm all for multitasking. Then I eat breakfast, shower, and check my emails, blog, etc. I clean a little while listening to a book on tape and/ or run errands or go to appointments. After lunch I write for a couple hours before my kids get home from schoolThen it's time for snacks, chores, homework, lessons, practice, appointments, etc. After that I make dinner (sometimes my kids help) they do dishes too when I remind them. Around 6:30 I leave for work for a couple hours (I teach English as a second language a few nights a week. On the way to work I sing in the car too, but I practice voice to a vocal exercise CD. Then it's home, family scripture study and prayer, and reading before bed. That's how most of my days go.Friday is date night with my hubbySaturday I clean the kitchen, my kids do the baths, and I go grocery shopping. Exiting life, I know!

Wow, how on earth did you find the energy to write it all down in the first place! Kids do get easier as they get older in terms of less running around and 'managing', but they give you more grief in the way of stroppiness and mess! I normally start my day (in the week) at 5.45am, sort kids, go to work, come home and help my fab hubby cook dinner, do a little blogging, emailing, tweeting etc then tv then bed by 10.30 ish. Weekends are mine! Lie-ins til 10 :) and calls to the uk.

It only makes me want to cry because it sounds so familiar. Except I am never coherent that early in the morning (think walking zombie), and I generally go to the gym after my kids leave and before I accomplish a single other thing in my day. OCD? You decide. It's my thing.

And dude, those people lied to me too! The older my kids get, the HARDER it is to keep up. I should've started writing when they were small.

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